


Tit for Tat

by foppishaplomb



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cybernetics, Handsome Jackhammer, Just General Bad Stuff, M/M, Obsessive Behavior, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possessive Behavior, Revenge, Stalking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 04:23:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21191519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foppishaplomb/pseuds/foppishaplomb
Summary: "Listen, I get it, kiddo," Jack said. "Really, I'm willing to bet I probably get it better than anyone else ever could. Yeah, you have to share your body for a little bit, but there's no one else in the six galaxies who'll give you exactly what I'm promising."Katagawa quirked an eyebrow. "And that is?""Everything Rhys has coming to him. No bullshit."AU where Katagawa Jr doesn't die, finds the Handsome Jackhammer, and makes a new friend.





	Tit for Tat

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sure other people have gotten to this plot first, but that's ok. i'm going to try to take it at my own pace.  
i don't exactly know what's going to happen yet, but it's going to be dark, and deal heavily in obsessive and toxic behavior. i'd say sorry about that, but i have opted to no longer feel shame for my actions! please be careful of any triggers that are added to the tags as it's updated, though.

If there was one thing Katagawa Jr. had learned from this experience, it was when it was time to duck out. The Vault Hunters had screwed up his Zer0 suit, so what was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he could take them in a fistfight, so when the suit started to malfunction, there was one option left to him: stealthing and getting the hell out of there.

He heard the Vault Hunters reacting like he was dead as he made his invisible escape, but Katagawa didn't care. It was probably better if the heat was taken off him for awhile as he figured out how to recover. He didn't know where Zer0 had taken Rhys, or he would have grabbed him while he bailed. At the very least, he would have brushed a hand over Rhys's hair and whispered a quiet eulogy for friendship lost. Rest in peace, sweet Zanara, he thought, and with it the remnants of Katagawa's special bond with Rhys.

Katagawa scowled at the Atlas logo illuminating the empty service hallway with cheery red light, mocking him. He had wanted Rhys _ so badly. _Katagawa still didn't understand: he had done everything right. This was exactly how his father had gotten every other Maliwan subsidiary to join the family, and now that Junior was head of Acquisitions & Mergers, it should have been the same. All Rhys had had to do was let Atlas be taken. It was so simple.

But no. Rhys _ had _ to fight back. He had to team up with Vault Hunters, had to hack Katagawa's laser, had to destroy the Zanara. That impudent arriviste! Didn't he realize that once Katagawa set his eyes on Atlas, he didn't _ get _ to say no? Rhys didn't get to send Vault Hunters in and hack whatever he wanted and shore up an army that actually stood a chance. He got to sit tight and look pretty and let Katagawa do whatever he wanted to him. That was how it _ went. _How it had always gone. Katagawa had always known Rhys was special, but this wasn't the way he anticipated.

Fine—maybe Katagawa couldn't kill Rhys. Rhys himself couldn't fight back, but he clearly had too many Vault Hunter friends to protect him. Zer0, for one, even if the newer Vault Hunters left to go after the Calypsos. Katagawa couldn't even blame Zer0 for sticking around after Katagawa's ruse fell apart. He, too, would have done anything to protect Rhys, if Rhys had only joined the family.

So Katagawa wouldn't kill him. It wasn't as much fun if Rhys didn't believe his close friend had betrayed him, anyway. Katagawa probably couldn't come up with a reason that weird Pandoran bandit would join Maliwan. Still, it wasn't like he was just going to give up on Rhys. Oh, no. Katagawa was far too dedicated for that, and Rhys still rightfully belonged to him. The least Katagawa could do was take something that belonged to Rhys.

There was a clandestine Atlas project that Katagawa had caught glimpses of during his time scoping out the company. He knew it was special to Rhys because of the secretive way Rhys acted about it; how he only spoke of it to the employees he trusted most, mainly Zer0 and Lorelei. Even then, he didn't give details, and kept his cards close to his chest. As much as he watched Rhys, Katagawa hadn't been able to uncover anything except that it involved top secret Hyperion intel. Maliwan getting ahold of it before Atlas did wouldn't be enough revenge to satisfy Katagawa, but it would be a start.

Katagawa knew the way to Rhys's office like he knew the cabins of the Zanara. He had been there countless times, as recently as an hour ago. Sure, he had never been there with Rhys's knowledge or permission, but the head of Acquisitions & Mergers had to be dedicated to surveying their latest target, especially one as high priority as Atlas. Most of the building was still empty of Atlas soldiers, likely off fighting what remained of the Maliwan assault. Katagawa took the way he had already cleared out. The corpses hadn't been moved yet, let alone replaced with more security. Katagawa peeked into to Rhys's office and saw that the trap door was closed now, but Rhys still wasn't around. Probably out celebrating his victory with Zer0, thought Katagawa bitterly. He slipped inside past the elaborate aquarium tanks and over to Rhys's desk.

Katagawa rolled his eyes at the picture of Rhys's _ other _ secret, that missing woman, and flipped the frame over so he didn't have to look at her while he worked. That secret Rhys was a lot more willing to talk about, at least to Zer0 and Lorelei and in calls to his bandit friend Vaughn, so Katagawa knew more of the details--though not exactly how close Rhys was to her. He only ever called her and her sister "friends," which Katagawa had been relieved by the first time he heard it. It meant he only had to beat Zer0 and Vaughn in the competition for Rhys's _ best _friend. The sting of defeat still burned in Katagawa's chest at the reminder. He had been so close, too.

Well, he had to focus. He could lick his wounds later; he wasn't exactly wanted around the Atlas corporation right now. Most of Rhys's important files were on his person, so Katagawa had never been able to get to them without alerting Rhys to his presence. Katagawa didn't know enough about hacking to get past his firewalls remotely, and he'd had a few techs killed for disappointing him when they couldn't handle it. They'd said he was using firewalls on par with what classic Hyperion used to have, and that that had been some of the best programming in the game. Something something "modified version of an unknown program called 'ja(k5-h4x.exe'"—at that point Katagawa had stopped listening, since it was clear they couldn't do what he wanted. At least Katagawa knew the hidden drawer in his desk where Rhys kept his backups. Maliwan programmers would be able to crack the security eventually if they didn't have the active threat of being discovered weighing down on them. Probably quickly, too, if Katagawa threatened their families. In the hidden desk drawer, he found what he was looking for: a tiny drive labeled in Rhys's cramped handwriting with the word "Jackhammer."

Katagawa pocketed it. Katagawa didn't want to risk taking anything else, lest Rhys notice quickly enough to link the missing things to Maliwan. He ran a mournful hand over the back of Rhys's chair, then flipped the photo back into place and made his way out of Atlas HQ. He'd done all he could for now, including getting the shit kicked out of him by Vault Hunters. The rest of his revenge would have to wait.

It was a set of coordinates. Days of nonstop work for Maliwan programmers, during which Katagawa had taken the time to recover physically, if not emotionally, and all the precious drive held was the location of some shithole moon run by Hyperion. It wasn't even a _ precise _location. It was for a base that covered half the damn moon, but Maliwan was a much bigger corporation than the newly-reformed Atlas was, so unlike Rhys, Katagawa had the resources to spare to really scour it. Even under the watchful eye of Hyperion—which really hadn't been the same since Handsome Jack died, let alone after its base of operations crashed into Pandora—the Maliwan teams managed to dig something up in a week or so.

"It's called the Handsome Jackhammer, sir," said the agent who recovered it, as she presented it to Katagawa Jr. in his office. "It's some kind of prototype for a new Hyperion gun. A tribute to Handsome Jack, I guess."

"That's Hyperion for you," Katagawa scoffed, waving her away. "No wonder their glory days are through. They're never going to get over Handsome Jack."

When the door shut behind her, Katagawa turned his prize over in his hands. A shiny, yellow submachine gun. It was all glossy finish and blue trim, dotted with little blue and green bulbs to match Handsome Jack's famous heterochromia. It was sleek, well-made, obviously very expensive; all the hallmarks of the best Hyperion weaponry, but that's still all it was. Just another weapon.

Another company's prototype was always nice to have, of course, but Katagawa didn't know why Rhys cared so much about this one in particular. For a weapons manufacturer, Rhys didn't seem to hold any special affection for guns, and Katagawa had literally never seen him shoot one. And why the secrecy? Katagawa thought Rhys used to be a Handsome Jack fanboy or something similar, or at least that was what he could gather from whispered ECHO calls intercepted between Rhys and Vaughn, and Katagawa knew Rhys was once a Hyperion programmer who lived on Helios. That was it, though. From everything Katagawa had found, Rhys had never actually spoken to Handsome Jack. Some of Rhys's conversations with Vaughn seemed to imply otherwise, but that was impossible; in the years before he died, Handsome Jack was one of the most famous people in the six galaxies. His every move had been recorded, and he never once crossed paths with a young coder named Rhys Strongfork.

Katagawa checked the gun's magazine, and, finding it empty, aimed the gun at the photo of Rhys on his desk. He hadn't yet been able to bear removing it. Katagawa knew it wasn't the greatest act of gun safety, but he also didn't really care if someone got shot. He centered Rhys in the sight and pulled the trigger, wishing it were the real Rhys.

The gun came to life so suddenly that Katagawa almost dropped it. He was expecting the click of an empty barrel, but the lights blazed on, the gun warmed to his hand like a computer starting up, and, most surprising of all—it spoke.

"Ahh, god, _ finally _someone turned me back on!" The voice was familiar, like someone Katagawa had heard on the radio. There was only one person it could be. "So, what is it? Another round of tests before you gaggle of R&D dumbasses are satisfied that I'm the real thing?"

"Oh," said Katagawa. "They had him record voice lines, or something. Cute."

"Wha—who the hell are you? This isn't the Hyperion lab. How'd you get ahold of me? Do me a favor and turn me around so I can get a look at—wait. That picture, is that..." The voice got tight. "Is that you, Rhys?"

"You know Rhys?" Katagawa's eyes widened. He turned the gun over, looking for any sign of what this thing was. "You're… you're not just prerecorded, are you?"

"I'm an AI, idiot. Try to keep up. But if you know Rhys… I bet you know all about it, don't you?" There was an edge to the voice Katagawa couldn't explain. Had Rhys known Handsome Jack after all? Why else would his AI know him? "It's you who should be answering the questions, pal. Who the hell are you, and where the _ hell _ is Rhys?"

"We'll talk about Rhys in a minute," said Katagawa, who couldn't believe he was putting off a chance to talk about Rhys. "What do you mean you're an AI? Like an administrative assistant for the gun, or…?"

"Like I'm a digital copy of Handsome Jack's consciousness, genius," the gun snapped. "God, you're lucky I'm out of ammo, or you'd be dead already for wasting my damn time. You know what, I don't have time to explain myself to some brainless nobody. I asked you a question, sweetie, and you'd better answer it before I detonate myself and blow you to bits, ammo or no ammo. Where the hell is Rhys?"

"He's on Promethea," said Katagawa, rolling his eyes. "Where he always is. He doesn't know you're here, and I'm _ not _some nobody, so you should really watch your tone, considering who's holding the gun."

"Promethea? What's on Promethea? And where is _ here? _" Katagawa, in looking for the source of the voice, accidentally aimed the sight at himself for a moment, and the voice scoffed. "Oh, you're Maliwan. Ugh. That explains why you're so damn slow."

"Hey, Maliwan has above-average reload speed. I should know. I'm next in line to take over this company."

"You're a Katagawa, then." Handsome Jack didn't sound appropriately impressed. "Which one? There's like a million of you."

"Not anymore." Katagawa smiled. He aimed the gun at himself so Jack would see. "You've been out of the loop for a long time, old man. There's only me, and Father."

"Whatever, I don't care about your family drama. I would have figured this was just your standard corporate espionage, but you've got a picture of Rhys and an extra-freaky version of his ECHO eye. That's not a coincidence. What does some Maliwan trust fund baby have to do with _ him? _"

"I should ask you the same thing," said Katagawa, feeling a bit defensive. "Rhys didn't take over Atlas until after you died. It wasn't like he was all that important when he was at Hyperion, so how do you even know him?"

"...He… what?" said Jack, not answering the question. "He took over Atlas?"

Katagawa scoffed. "He didn't just take it over, he rebuilt Atlas from nothing," he said. "They say he probably scavenged the deed after Helios crashed."

"He's the one who _ crashed _ Helios!" The gun's temperature spiked, and Katagawa quickly faced it away from himself. "That little shit thinks he can set fire to _ my _ empire and then just pick whatever he wants out of the ashes? That he can just leave _ me _ behind to languish in some friggin' machine gun while he parties it up on as President on Promethea? God _ damn _it! You, Maliwan goon—put some ammo in me and take me straight to Promethea so I can unload my entire magazine right into his puny chest!"

"Oh, you want to kill Rhys too?" said Katagawa. It seemed Rhys had broken more hearts than Katagawa realized. It didn't matter. "Join the club."

Jack growled. It was an odd sensation, feeling the sound in Katagawa's hands. "I'm the one who's going to kill him. He owes me that."

"We'll see about that," said Katagawa, who didn't want to give up his claim to Rhys's death. "It's the same Rhys, right? Slender, delicate? Brown hair that looks soft. Robot arm, cool ECHO eye, about yea high?"

"Not exactly the words I'd use, but yeah. Scrawny, cyber-arm, pale as a frickin' ghost?" Katagawa nodded. "That's Rhys."

Without a face to read, it was difficult not to search Jack's voice for every ounce of meaning. Even though he was insulting Rhys, there was something to Jack's tone that made it difficult not to feel possessive. Katagawa didn't like Zer0 for a very simple reason, and it didn't matter whether it came to friends or enemies. Katagawa didn't like to share.

"How old is he now?" said Jack. "Twenty-eight, twenty-nine? Work with me here. God, how long have those bureaucratic idiots been keeping me locked away?"

"Rhys is _my_ enemy," asserted Katagawa. "He screwed me over by refusing my merger. He had the nerve to hack my laser and blow up my amazing pleasure yacht. It was called the Zanara, and it was incredible. But I still don't understand how _you_ know him. He's enough of a bigshot now, but Rhys was a nobody at Hyperion."

Jack laughed. "You seriously don't know what he did?"

Katagawa's fingers tightened on the gun, a little defensively. "Okay, so maybe there were some things I haven't been able to find out. At least I know how _ old _Rhys is." 

"Hey, I've been stuck in a deactivated gun for the recent past," said Jack. "I know what counts. Case in point, how do you think Helios crashed?"

"Who knows?" said Katagawa dismissively. "All the survivors joined some Pandoran bandit cult and then got themselves killed ages ago."

"The… what?"

"How do you know about the crash, but not the Children of Helios? You've been dead for what, six? Seven years? If you were in a gun that whole time—"

"I wasn't."

Katagawa was impatient. "Well, where were you, then?"

"I was in Rhys's head, for some of it." Jack's voice was almost nostalgic. Katagawa's skin prickled. "You can't figure out how I met Rhys before I died? That's because I didn't. I met him after."

"So you never even knew him," said Katagawa. "Just some copy of you did, and you think—"

"I'm the real goddamn deal, pumpkin," snarled the gun. "I am _ not _ just a copy. I'm Handsome fucking Jack, dead or alive, and _ you're _just some Maliwan upstart who thinks he can—"

"Helios crashed half a decade ago! Whatever happened between you and Rhys is ancient history, and _ my _family—"

"You seriously think you can waltz in and take what's mine just because I've been out of the game for a few years? That I wouldn't—"

"What's _ yours? _ " Katagawa spat, his entire body tensed for a fight he wouldn't get with a gun. He wanted to throw it across the room. "I've been after Rhys for god only knows how long, and I'm not giving him up to an SMG with a superiority complex. I went to war for him! I decimated Promethea and burned the place to the ground for him, and he _ still _wouldn't give himself up to me. It's… it's infuriating! No matter what I did, he still wouldn't just…!"

Katagawa realized his hands were trembling on the gun, and he strengthened his grip and his resolve. Never show weakness. He'd learned that, as the youngest child, a long time ago. "I don't care anymore," he said. "If he won't be mine, I _ won't _give him up to you. It doesn't matter what went on between you. I'll kill him first."

There was a long pause. "Then we're on the same page," Jack said.

"What do you mean?" Katagawa narrowed his eyes.

"Rhys has to die, and painfully," said Jack. "Which one of us does it doesn't matter, in the end. Not when we can both do it."

"What, are you saying that I shoot him with you? That's not exactly satisfying. He'd die before he even knew what hit him."

"No, you moron. Better than that." Katagawa felt the gun tug at his hands to move, and he followed its lead so its sights were directly set on Katagawa's ECHO eye implant. Before Katagawa realized and could move it back so it wasn't aiming at his head, the gun clicked, empty of ammo.

"You have a head port, just like Rhys," said Jack. "You can plug me in. Then, you can let me take over. Then Rhys won't stand a chance."

"Why would I ever let you take over my body?" Katagawa scoffed. "That sounds like a foolproof path to disaster."

"Because together, we can do what neither of us could alone, dumb-dumb," Jack said. "We can give Rhys _ exactly _ what the little brat deserves."

That did sound good, Katagawa had to admit. He paused to consider it. "And Rhys had you in his head before?"

"For what felt like forever, yeah. We got real cozy."

"Huh." What did Katagawa get these implants for, if not to have more in common with Rhys? He'd specifically chosen the opposite side to Rhys's, to be two halves of a whole. If they'd both had Jack in their cybernetics, maybe Rhys would finally realize how much he and Katagawa had to talk about. Katagawa wished _ he _ could be the one in Rhys's head. He seemed fun to hang out with all the time.

"Well?" said Jack.

"I don't know about giving up my body, but I'm willing to let you into my head for a little while," said Katagawa. "Just so we can plot something up against Rhys."

"You need to think bigger," said Jack impatiently. "You're working with Handsome Jack now, kid. This isn't going to be some low-stakes plot to inconvenience him. I need your body because Rhys took _ everything _from me. This is going to be the revenge of a lifetime."

"I know how that feels," sighed Katagawa. "He took so much. It wasn't just blowing up the Zanara, it's—it's the principle of the thing, you know? He took away what was mine, and then he sent some Vault Hunters at me to clean up. He thought he could get away with saying _no_ to me. That I'd just let him win." Katagawa looked down at the gun in his hand. He thought of the lengths he'd already gone to to take something from Rhys, and how he was just getting started. "He should've joined the family."

"I know." Katagawa could sense from Jack's tone that he really did. It was a surprisingly comforting realization. "That's what Rhys does. He digs himself into a hole and then doesn't realize what he has to do to dig himself out. Even after—when did you say Helios crashed, half a decade ago?" Jack was a gun with no lungs, but he sucked in a long breath. "God. _ Five years _ alone. And even after all this time, he's still naive."

"He doesn't understand, not really," Katagawa said. "What he does to people."

There was a silence, where Katagawa expected Jack to deny it. To insist there was no way a sap like Rhys could have this power over such powerful, important men. Either that, or to quickly agree like all the yes-men did, and then, when they thought he was out of earshot, to wonder why he went to such lengths to get a company just getting back on its feet like Atlas. To dismiss him.

But Jack didn't.

"Listen, I get it, kiddo," Jack said. "Really, I'm willing to bet I probably get it better than anyone else ever could. Yeah, you have to share your body for a little bit, but there's no one else in the six galaxies who'll give you exactly what I'm promising."

Katagawa quirked an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"Everything Rhys has coming to him. No bullshit."

Somehow, no one else really understood how Katagawa felt about Rhys. They didn't get that Atlas was special because of Rhys. That Rhys was special. But maybe Jack did. Katagawa succeeded because he was passionate enough to take what he wanted, and if Jack was too, and if Jack could make Rhys _theirs, _like he promised…

"He does this to people," said Jack. "He gets them to care about him, makes you think he'll be loyal to the end if you can only get him on your side, and then as soon as things go a little wrong for him, he stabs you in the back where it hurts the worst. He doesn't join families, Katagawa. He ruins them. That's why we need to do this. It's why he has to _ pay. _"

...Maybe it was worth sharing. Just for a little bit.

He could always betray Jack later.

"Okay," said Katagawa. He nodded. "I'll do it."

"Yeah? That's what I like to hear!" Katagawa could hear the grin in Jack's voice, and it made him shiver, just a little bit. "There's a connector under the gun's main panel. Open it up, and jack in."

Hands shaking with excitement now, Katagawa found the jack. He held it up to his port, and smiled at the picture of Rhys, still watching unawares from Katagawa's desk.

"You have no idea what you're in for, Rhys," he said, and plugged it in.


End file.
